


5 Times They Called Out and the 1 Time They Didn't Have To

by amillionworlds



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: 5+1 Things, A Plant Drugs Rilla?, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fever, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Lizard Kissin' Tuesday (Penumbra Podcast), Lord Arum Gives Great Hugs, Mild Blood, Multi, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Returning Home, Rilla I love you, Second Citadel (Penumbra Podcast), Sir Damien Deserves The World, The Keep freaking Rules, The Keep is Arum's Mom, The Keep is Everyone's Mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25662163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amillionworlds/pseuds/amillionworlds
Summary: Sometimes everyone needs a little help and a hug or two from the people (or lizards) they're closest with. They're just doing their best and loving each other in the process.AKA 5+1 meets Rilla, Damien, and Arum being really cute.Updating nightly!
Relationships: Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla (Penumbra Podcast)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 97





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all!!
> 
> Thanks for stopping by to enjoy my little party. This is the first time I've ever written anything that managed to be more than one chapter, so that's exciting!
> 
> I want to say thank you to my amazing editor/best friend. I love you!
> 
> Content Warnings: Panic Attacks/Anxiety Attacks & Descriptions of Anxiety

1

Arum knew something was wrong when he could hear Damien’s heartbeat. Not that he couldn’t usually hear both of his humans’ hearts, his hearing was much better than a human’s, but Damien was out on the balcony of the Keep with the doors closed behind him. His heart was racing and Arum could see his shoulders rising and falling. 

Arum had never seen Damien spiral before, at least not without Rilla there to comfort him. Rilla always seemed to know just what to say, what to do, when to hold his hand, and when to just to make sure he was breathing. 

But Arum wasn’t going to sit around while Damien suffered, so he rushed to the door, and threw it open. Damien’s fear was so potent, Arum could smell it in the air. There was visible tension in his shoulders, and he was bent over, hands strung through his hair. 

It took Arum a few seconds to realize that Damien was praying. It took him only a moment more to understand exactly what he was saying. 

“—please, Saint, just let them be. I will right my wrongs, I will, I will! Oh, my sweet Rilla, my Amaryllis, my forever flower, please, Saint, just tell me she’s alright, oh Saint—”

Damien didn’t even move as Arum sat down next to him, leaving enough space so their legs wouldn’t touch. Arum wasn’t even sure that Damien knew he was there. That in itself concerned Arum greatly. 

“Honeysuckle?” he whispered, not wanting to further overwhelm the man. It took a brief moment before Arum realized Damien hadn't heard him through his panic. “Honeysuckle. What’s happened?”

Damien lifted his head, eyes red and watering. He tried to speak, but was left gasping, desperate for air. 

“Lord Arum,” he choked out, looking afraid and confused and distraught all at once. “Where—where is our Rilla? Please, please, is she alright?” 

Arum didn’t know what to do. His Keep didn’t either, singing soft melodies that brought Arum no comfort. He’d seen Rilla do many different things, like ask Damien if it was okay to touch him or sing or even just hold him and let him cry. 

But Amaryllis was not there, and Arum knew enough, enough to comfort Damien even if just for the moment. 

“Amaryllis is fine, Honeysuckle. She is simply out at her hut, gathering the medicines for her brother.”

Damien peered over at Arum, a faint glint of laughter at Arum’s distaste, even though they were both aware neither of them truly disliked Sir Marc. But it was not enough, and quickly Damien’s mind was clouded with fear for his lover yet again. 

“But—but the forest, the forest is unsafe, and what if something has happened? She must be alright, she must!” Damien gasps for air, lungs burning, so overwhelmed he does not know where his mind stops and the fear begins. He could not think of how he would ever escape the barrage of torturous thoughts on his mind and his mind was so scattered he couldn't breathe. 

Arum noticed the increased speed of Damien’s breathing, but he could not read Damien’s mind. 

“Honeysuckle, breathe,” he insisted, drawing closer to his flower. Damien looked up, panicked, and moved further away.

“No, no, please,  _ please _ . Where is she?”

Without another doubt, Arum realized what he had to do. “Keep, send a portal to Amaryllis.”

The Keep hummed in return, and soon the scent of magic filled the air, the portal shimmering in the darkness of their bedroom. Leaping off of the bench, Arum stuck his head through, looking around quickly. 

“Amaryllis!” he called, searching for the young woman. She noticed him and the portal in quick succession. 

“Arum? What are you doing here?” 

“Damien—needs to see you, I believe.” Despite his brevity, Rilla understood, and followed him back through the portal without another word. 

Damien had calmed, to some extent, by the time the two of them had returned. His breathing, while still quick and not quite regular, was no longer short gasps for air in between lines of prayer, and he had lost some of the visible tension in his arms. 

Arum returned to his spot next to Damien, still not quite touching, but close enough that Damien knew he was there. 

“Lord Arum, I had—had worried you would not return,” he whispered. Rilla slowly sunk onto the bench on the opposite side of Damien. He didn’t notice, staring fully up into Arum’s violet eyes.

“I have no intentions of leaving in the near future, Honeysuckle. I simply believed you would like to see Amaryllis.”

It took only a moment for Damien to grasp that Rilla was right there, and relief melted into his features. 

“Oh my Rilla, my Amaryllis, I had feared I’d never see you again, but here, you are alright, yes? You are not hurt?” Damien’s hands grasped at hers, and she smiled so tenderly Arum felt he had melted as well. 

“I’m fine, Damien. Can I hug you?”

It was obvious, the comfort such a simple touch brought, and Arum felt the intimacy of the moment between the two so strongly he almost felt he was imposing. But Rilla looked up, and withdrew one of her hands from Damien’s hair to reach out. And they were whole, three as one, burning so brightly together one could not help but watch. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, and Arum couldn't help but bristle. He couldn’t help but feel she was the one who comforted Damien, she was the one who made sure he was okay. 

As Damien’s breathing eased and heart rate slowed, Arum refrained from looking back up at her, although he knew she was still looking down at him. After another moment, he looked up. 

Rilla smiled, and Arum noticed how her hands had continued to stroke Damien’s hair softly. Damien had seemed almost asleep, too worn out to fight his exhaustion any longer. 

“I don’t know what you’re thinking,” she said. “But you did help him today.” 

And somehow, it was exactly what he was thinking. “I did not realize the extent to which our Honeysuckle’s mind troubles him. But he—” he paused, uncomfortable. “ _ You _ knew exactly what to do.”

“But Arum, you did what you thought was right. Sometimes convincing him isn’t about making him see logic, it’s showing him that it’s going to be alright in the end. That’s what you did.”

Arum couldn’t fight her logic; he knew she was right. 

“Arum,” she said, leaning in over Damien, whose soft snores had slowly joined the melody of the creatures of the swamp as they ended their day. “You did it right. I know Damien will agree with me in the morning.”

“I suppose you are correct, Amaryllis.” Arum couldn’t stop the small huff that escaped as Rilla gave him a smug smirk, tired eyes twinkling in the evening light. 

With a soft sigh that was almost a yawn, she leaned over onto Arum’s shoulder, Damien’s head fully splayed across her lap. Arum wrapped an arm around her shoulders, just to keep her from sliding off of the edge of the bench. 

“Goodnight, my blooms,” he whispered, too quiet for either human to hear. The Keep sang a soft, teasing melody in reply, and Arum scowled. 

  
“Oh, be quiet!” He knew he wouldn’t have even said anything if he hadn’t been sure both Amaryllis and Damien were both asleep—the Keep certainly knew this as well. 

They certainly were beautiful, his blooms. Arum had never felt so loved. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. This is the longest one of the whole thing, and it's got a few of my favorite cameos. 
> 
> Additional content warnings: Blood, Head Trauma, Mild Violence, Mentions of Injury, Mild Descriptions of Pain, & Betrayal.
> 
> Enjoy!

Rilla had always enjoyed waking up in the morning to see both of her lovers entangled together in their sleep. It was a rare sight for her, as Damien usually woke up with the dawn to begin his morning exercises or hurry back to the Citadel to report for duty. She wasn’t an early riser if she didn’t have to be, but oftentimes her experiments drew her far from the Keep, and she was left with no other choice. 

Damien had the day off, and since Arum could be incredibly persuasive when it came to keeping the two of them in bed, he was still asleep. Whenever possible, the three of them would spend their mornings cuddled together in their shared bed, enjoying the bliss of the moment for as long as possible. 

So after a minute or two, before Arum awoke and managed to keep Rilla in bed, she slipped out into the first rays of the dawn, taking a portal to the edge of the swamp. It was quieter than usual, the birds not quite having woken up to sing their songs. 

Rilla set to work right away, gathering her materials, both for her experiments and possible other plants to help later. She’d just found an interesting new mutation on a mushroom when the entire forest surrounding her silenced in its entirety. However, her focus upon her work did not break, and by the time she looked up the animals had resumed their gentle commotion. 

After moving deeper into the woods, where the sunlight struggled to filter through the canopy of leaves up above, Rilla continued her studies, testing the different properties of a plant that Arum had recently shown her. 

Here the forest grew even quieter, until it seemed the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own breathing. There were few animals there, mostly just those passing through. 

“Alright! Research log five-eight-six-six, reactions of Numb-Cap to different—wait, what is my recorder picking up on…?”

Rilla looked around quickly, searching for whatever animal had made the sounds that her recorder had gathered. The low growling hums of the creature filled the air as she replayed the sound, her heart racing. When the recorder stopped, Rilla realized that she could now hear the creature without her recorder, their heavy footsteps and crooning hisses echoing in the small clearing.

“So, where is the little human, hmmm? Come out, come out little human!”

Rilla knew she should have stayed put and been careful not to reveal her hiding place, but her curiosity often got the better of her, and she could not help but take a quick peek around the tree trunk she hid behind. But the clearing was empty, filled only by Rilla’s experiments that were toppled over from her hurried attempt to hide. 

Damien’s words rang through her head, words from a time early in their relationship; “Protecting yourself is reliant on just two things: the ability to identify the threat and the knowledge of where your strength comes from.”

That had been a nice day, Rilla remembered. Damien had taken her out to a quiet clearing not too different from this one and showed her how to attack even against the hold of someone much stronger than her. She’d laughed, and they’d enjoyed the time together. 

“I won’t forget this place,” she’d said. “We’ll come back to this clearing next time you want to whisk me away for a secret picnic.” They hadn’t done that in a while. Rilla wondered if they’d ever done it again after that day. 

A twig snapped behind her, and it broke her out of her daydream. “Come here little herbalist, you cannot hide from me…”

Suddenly, Rilla was ripped from her grip upon the tree to stare up at the monster who had trapped her. She thrashed and fought, kicking where she could without hurting herself. It took her only a moment after she opened her eyes to realize exactly what she was seeing. 

“Arum?”

But it could not be Arum, he was never this imposing, he wasn’t this large, she thought. He didn’t tower over her like this, he never had. Even when they’d first met, he hadn’t been so horrible, he hadn’t sounded like he wanted to—Rilla could not bring herself to continue the thought. 

She couldn’t help but think that it  _ was  _ him, however. At least, until he threw her, with a great power she didn’t even know Arum possessed, into the very same tree she’d been hiding behind. Rilla felt a wave of pain sear into the back of her head, and when she lifted her hand to the spot, it came away red with her blood. 

“Arum, what are you doing?” she cried, trying to scramble away on aching legs as he drew nearer. 

“Don’t you understand little Amaryllis? I am getting rid of you. I have had enough of you and that puny knight. I have already dealt with him. All that is left is to be rid of you. You have never understood me,  _ never _ , always siding with  _ him _ .” 

Rilla could not bear the thought of Damien’s death—she had always thought he’d be buried with a monster’s claw through his chest, but never once did she picture it would be their lover’s. It was a thought so unbearable Rilla felt she was being torn in two. 

“No!” she choked out, her limbs giving out under her as she crumpled in pain and fear. She could not move, she could not breathe; she felt that all she could do was fear. It felt like the fear-beast from the edge of the world all over again, but instead of raw terror, it fed upon her own personal terrors. 

“Damien!” she called, desperate.

“Honeysuckle cannot help you now, Amaryllis. He is gone, and soon you will be too,  _ tktktktktktk. _ ”

She recoiled as he drew even closer, just a few steps away. Then it clicked, all at once. If she felt the same way as she had with the fear monster, then this must have been another fear monster, a very similar one at that. And it made sense her most prominent fears had changed—she’d changed immensely since her original contact with Arum’s grubs. 

Rilla just prayed that she was right in her assessment. Her bag of instant fire starter had remained attached to her belt, and all it would take was a little bit to set the Arum-like creature ablaze. 

But something in her stopped—Arum would have been able to follow her, and if Damien couldn’t stop him, there was no telling who the beast in front of her truly was. It  _ could  _ be Arum, the real Arum. But as he stepped even closer, mere inches from her face, Rilla realized she had no other choice. 

In the back of her mind, or perhaps just off in the distance she thought she heard her brother yelling for her. 

The call wasn’t enough to stop her though, and her small pinch of powder sent the creature up into flames. It sputtered and growled, then exploded into little flecks of  _ something  _ that burned where it touched her skin. 

Rilla cried out as another wave of pain crashed over her, leaving her unable to move as she was covered with more of those burning pieces. 

It took another yell before she realized that she hadn’t simply imagined the first one, and she knew who it was right away. 

“Rilla!” Sir Marc called, his voice frantic. Sir Angelo rode along at his side. 

The two horses came incredibly close to her as she tried to push herself up to no avail, trying to shake the overwhelming fear from her mind. 

“Marc? What are you—ah!” she grunted, wincing as she propped herself up on the less-injured of her arms. 

“What happened?” he asked, looking concerned. Dampierre imitated Marc’s expression in an almost laughable horse way. 

“A monster, that’s all. Like the one we met before, when we were gathering the Numb-Cap.”

Sir Angelo hopped off his horse, hup-hup-huping over to her. “Lady Rilla!” he boomed, and Rilla sighed, giving him a weary look he didn’t seem to notice. “Where is the beast we must slay?” 

But before she could answer, Sir Marc did it for her. “Uh, buddy, I think that big fireball was the beast.” Rilla couldn’t help but roll her eyes—Marc was always a little shit, no matter who he was around. 

“Yes, the big scary monster is gone. Do you think one of you maybe might be able to take me home?” Rilla asked. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to walk all the way back to the Keep, not the way she was bleeding and burned. 

Both men seemed to realize the extent of her injuries at the same time, and Angelo helped her onto Dampierre. Rilla realized he’d never picked her up before. It was a little odd, being picked up like she weighed nothing. Then she was reminded of how Arum had swooped her into his arms after their fight with the fear monster at the Terminus, and she had to quickly turn her attention back to the present. 

“Rilla, what’d that thing do to you?” Marc asked as Angelo set her up on Dampierre. “You’re bleeding.”

That was all it took to make her remember the crash into the tree, and she slumped over onto him, wincing as the pain coursed through her head. 

“Oh, crap, Rilla!” he said. “We’ll get you home. Do you—to your hut or the Keep?” Rilla leaned into Marc’s back to steady herself. 

“Keep, a portal to you please,” she said wearily. “Listen, you two, don’t mention this at the Citadel. Please.” She knew they wouldn’t, they cared too much about her and Damien to harm either of them so directly. 

Rilla just hoped Sir Caroline wouldn’t ask them too many questions. Neither Angelo nor Marc could lie to her for very long. 

Outside of the Keep, Damien was practicing his archery, and he turned to look at them as they rode through the portal, the horses slightly spooked by the magical travel. 

“Damien!” Rilla called, weary and in pain. He dropped his bow with a learned grace and ran to meet them. 

“Rilla!”

She slumped into his outstretched arms and nestled in close. “Rilla, what has happened? You’re hurt!”

Rilla sighed tiredly. “I’ll be alright, I just need—” she stopped, not wanting to reveal too much more than she already had about the nature of their monstrous lover. “Thank you, Marc, Angelo. The Keep can help you go where you need to.” 

They nodded, and the Keep provided another portal to the edge of the swamp. 

“Hey, Rilla? Stay safe,” Marc said as they rode out, giving Damien a pointed glare as if to remind him of what would happen if Rilla didn’t heal quickly. Both men knew he meant it. 

Damien rushed back into the Keep as soon as the portal had shut behind them, keeping a cautious grip on her to avoid worsening any of her injuries. 

Arum was waiting for them, and Rilla hated how she bristled as she saw him, her fear springing up at the way that monster had looked at her with her lover’s eyes. But she saw no anger in him, just concern and the urge to help. It helped quell the worst of her fears, and she settled down on the couch-like cushion that sat in the corner of their kitchen. 

“Arum,” she sighed. “It’s you.”

“Yes, Amaryllis, I’m here,” he replied slowly. “What can we do first?”

Rilla barely needed to give him directions as he bandaged and tended to her wounds, with careful words of reassurance and love that soothed her until she nearly fell asleep, although she wasn’t sure if it was from Arum’s comfort or the very probable concussion. In the end, it didn’t seem to matter, although her fear refused to fully dissipate in the back of her mind. 

“Rilla, my love, you must stay awake,” Damien said, holding her as tightly as he could without hurting her. She intertwined her fingers in his, squeezing. 

He squeezed back. “I love you, Rilla.” 

Arum looked up at Damien’s words, and saw that she was looking not up at Damien, but rather over at him. 

“I love you too.” 

Damien followed her gaze to Arum and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. 

“Come join us, my lily. She’ll be alright,” Damien said, hands now gently entwined in Rilla’s hair. 

Arum didn’t need to be told twice, and together the three of them settled into a tender embrace, limbs intertwined. There was no bickering, nothing that even remotely felt like an argument. It was enough for Rilla, just to be able to sit in the warmth of their kitchen and relax with her lovers at her side.

She realized, as Damien’s hands ran through her hair and Arum’s claws danced simple melodies upon her fingers, that she did not have to fear. They simply had too much love to hate one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope you liked chapter two!
> 
> If you wouldn't mind, please leave kudos or a comment. It means a lot. 
> 
> Chapter three will be up tomorrow! See you then. <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody!! I hope you're having a wonderful night (or day or afternoon or whatever time it is when you're reading this). 
> 
> The song they sing in the end of this chapter is, quite clearly, not my own. It is in italics, and it is sung many times in the actual show. 
> 
> Additional warnings: nightmares, minor mentions of betrayal, & fear. 
> 
> Alrighty, enjoy!!

_ Arum awoke to the Keep’s song, sunlight streaming through its vines and flowers. It was a warm spring day, and all he could see were opportunities to experiment and create, and maybe he would be able to head down to the rest of the swamp and observe whatever creatures had visited in the time he’d been asleep.  _

_ Yet as he tried to get up, he found himself trapped, unable to move and seemingly bound by an invisible force.  _

_ “Keep!” he hissed but the Keep had gone silent. Arum felt his connection to the Keep wane, and he flinched at how empty it felt. There wasn’t a way for him to understand how the Keep responded to his cries, no way for the two of them to communicate.  _

_ It frightened him in a way he had not felt in a very long time.  _

_ The Keep hummed an alarmed tune, and Arum could not help but feel the need to comfort it. He was supposed to be its protector, and if he failed at his duties, he knew the horrible consequences.  _

_ “We’ll be fine, Keep.” But he wasn’t sure, he’d never felt so stuck, never been so unable to move in his own home. “I just have to get out first.”  _

_ The Keep did not respond.  _

_ The invisible ropes dug into his scales and tore them apart, tightening until he could not breathe, he could not see a way out, and he panicked. The only escape he saw was to wriggle out, but he was too large. Some unknown power must have understood, and he started shrinking. He didn’t stop until he was the size of a hatchling, finally able to scurry out from the ropes that continue to bind tighter around him.  _

_ Scampering out of the room took little time, and Arum was able to hide in little crevasses in the Keep’s walls he’d forgotten about as he’d grown up. In another world it would have been nice, to be able to rediscover little things that he’d enjoyed as a hatchling.  _

_ It would’ve been, if he wasn’t terrified of whatever had bound him to the bed and severed his connection to the Keep like that. It must have been a powerful form of magic, for Arum could see much better than most creatures he encountered, human and monster alike, and he still could not see his bindings.  _

_ “Keep!” he hissed, although it came out more like a squeak in his tiny form. He pressed on its walls and flicked his small tail at its nearby vines, but the Keep did not respond.  _

_ He reminded himself to keep his head, to think about his situation logically, but there was no obvious answer to how he was supposed to free himself from this magic. How to free his Keep, without whom the entire Swamp of Titan’s Blooms would die.  _

_ And it would be entirely Arum’s fault.  _

_ “Keep, what is this magic?” he cried, desperate for a way to regain the connection he had grown up with, hoping he would find his answers in their contact. “What have they done to you?” _

_ The Keep still did not respond, and Arum found the invisible force pressing against him once again. “No!” he pleaded, pushing back as much as he could, but his hatchling form held little strength, especially compared to his full-grown self, and he could not fight it.  _

“Lord Arum?” _ a voice called to him, but it could not have been the Keep, for the Keep’s voice was much lighter and higher. Even so, the Keep rarely spoke in words, preferring gentle hums and teasing melodies. Arum fought with the knowledge, with the fear that the Keep could not respond—or possibly, chose not to.  _

_ In his fear for the Keep, Arum forgot just what he’d been running from, and the invisible force gripped at him, squeezing tightly around his throat until he could not breathe or move, and slowly his vision faded into nothing.  _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

“Lord Arum?” Damien whispered, breath warm on Arum’s scaly skin. Arum’s eyes blinked open hurriedly, and he gasped for breath before fully realizing his surroundings. 

It was still dark, and Arum could feel his connection to the Keep buzzing in the back of his mind. He sighed in relief before looking over at his lovers. Amaryllis laid asleep, her back to him, hair splayed across her pillow in the dim moonlight that infiltrated their room through the windows up above. It was a rare sight, the true rest that overtook her—Rilla often stayed with her experiments through the night and would fall asleep at her workbench. 

Damien, however, was awake, staring up at Arum with a concerned look on his face. 

“Damien?” Arum called, the remnants of his fear still burning inside of him. Damien placed a cautious hand onto Arum’s upper arm, rubbing it gently. Arum found himself leaning into the touch, even though he doubted he would let himself be so vulnerable if Damien hadn’t reached out first. 

“Are you alright, my lily?” Damien whispered. Sighing, Arum nuzzled his snout into Damien’s shoulder, wrapping his lower set of arms around the man. 

“Simply a bad dream, Honeysuckle. Just—” Arum could not bring himself to ask, but found he didn’t have to. Damien understood, and wrapped his arms tightly around his monstrous lover. 

The Keep hummed a comforting tune quietly in Arum’s ear, and it helped him settle back down enough to go back to sleep. 

“Thank you, Keep,” he whispered. Damien laughed a little as Arum’s words tickled in his ear. It gave Arum a clear invitation to snuggle in even closer. 

“Would you like me to sing to you?” Damien asked. “It’s what Rilla does whenever I have a nightmare.”

Arum nodded slowly, and settled in as Damien’s soft tenor filled the night air. 

“ _ Meet me by the river, where the elderberries grow.” _

Arum felt Rilla reach over and intertwine her fingers with his claws. The little gesture took Arum by surprise, but it was enough to make Arum realize the extent to which he was loved. 

Her sleepy voice joined Damien’s for the second half of the verse:

“ _ When stars are silver, no one has to know.” _

Between the soft melody and his partners’ gentle, loving touch, Arum fell back to sleep, his nightmare long forgotten. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for reading. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated, if you have the time to do so!
> 
> As always, thank you to my beautiful editor/best friend, I love you! 
> 
> The next part will be out at the same time tomorrow!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody!
> 
> I hope you're having a great day/night/whenever you're reading this! 
> 
> Additional content warnings: fever, injury, & mentions of blood
> 
> Enjoy!

Damien knew he should have returned to the Keep and his lovers as soon as he’d been injured. Rilla could’ve fixed him up that day, and he’d have been back on his feet in no time at all. 

But there had been so much happening in the Citadel, and his superiors had expected him to stick around. Damien didn’t want to find out what punishments he’d receive if he’d left for a mere cut on his leg. 

To be fair, he’d been bucked off of his horse and cut it on a rather large rock, but if it was concealable by his armor, no one would notice, and he figured it would be just fine. 

And when it hadn’t healed a week later, he allowed himself to be concerned. However, the Citadel didn’t always leave time for him to be concerned about himself. There were simply too many tasks to do, and between protecting the Queen and being sent off on missions with the Journeymen Knights, Damien hadn’t had a single moment to himself. 

He hadn’t seen Rilla or Arum in almost three weeks either, and it hurt him to think about what he had missed out on. It had been a very long time since he had gone that long without seeing Rilla, and he had never spent that long away from Arum in the entirety of their relationship. He’d sent letters, but nothing compared to their physical presence. 

Damien sighed, and leaned onto his horse more heavily. He was finally being allowed to take his leave. 

Or rather, he was forcibly sent home after Sir Caroline had noticed his limp and sweaty brow. It had been a rather short conversation. 

“Go see your herbalist, Sir Damien,” she’d spat, hurrying off to a meeting or something that Damien hadn’t quite paid attention to. “I’ll see you next week when you don’t look like you’ve just crawled out of your own grave.”

Damien hadn’t even had the time to argue before she was gone and he was left standing in the hallway by himself, feeling foolish. It didn’t take him too long to figure out that he was allowed to get out of there, and he left the Citadel within the hour, riding as fast as he could to the Swamp of Titan’s Blooms.

When he arrived, the sun had just begun to set. 

“Oh, Saint Damien, please let them be home,” he murmured. A wave of dizziness washed over him as his horse grew nearer to his destination. 

The Keep was a welcome sight, the dusk light coating its surface and dancing on the petals and leaves of the various plants that surrounded the tower. Damien didn’t think he’d ever been so relieved to see home before. 

Neither of his lovers were visible when his horse first exited the portal, but as he drew closer he spotted Rilla among the small patch of herbs outside of the Keep’s front entrance. His heart leapt at the sight of her, thick hair shimmering in the light. 

Damien was off his horse in seconds, and it took about the same amount of time for him to regret it. Pain seared up the cut on his leg and his vision blurred for a moment too long before he felt cool hands steadying him. 

“Damien, what’s wrong?” Rilla asked, helping him sit down in the soft grass. At his quiet gasp of pain and flushed face, she rephrased her question. “How long have you felt like this?” 

Sitting, he was able to regain some of the clarity he’d had on his ride home, although the pain in his leg hadn’t quite subsided. 

“Not long at all, my love,” Damien sighed and moved his armor to look at the still raw gash that covered his calf. 

“Saints, Damien, what happened to your leg?” Rilla reached out to touch the surrounding skin, dabbing at the blood that trickled out of the cut with a piece of cloth from her basket. The skin was inflamed and hot to the touch, and it worried Rilla immensely. 

“I had a rather unfortunate ride. I’d thought it was nothing.” 

Damien could see the wheels turning in Rilla’s head as she looked back towards the Keep. She seemed to notice something in one of the windows, but Damien couldn’t see what it was before it was gone. 

“Alright, we’ll just get you inside and I’ll be able to get you some herbs for that. Can you stand?” she asked. Damien nodded, but collapsed back down with a groan before he could take more than two steps. 

“Oh, my Rilla, I don’t think I can,” he whimpered, looking more and more like he was going to be sick. Rilla grew increasingly more worried until she noticed something just outside the entrance of the Keep. 

“Arum!” she called, seeming relieved. Damien slumped into her chest, waves of exhaustion overtaking him. “He can’t walk and I can’t carry him inside.”

Damien didn’t bother to watch for Arum, but he felt himself being lifted up and cradled in Arum’s cool, scaly arms. 

“Hello, my lily,” Damien whispered. 

Arum held him even tighter as they passed inside, stepping through to their shared bedroom. “The Keep has been much quieter without you, Honeysuckle,  _ tktktktktktk. _ ”

Damien figured this was as close as Arum would get to admitting he missed his knight. 

As the two of them settled into the bed, Rilla bustled around the room, grinding up aromatic herbs with her mortar and pestle before she sat on the side of the bed next to him.

“Hold still,” she said. “This might sting.” 

It did, but Rilla had always been good at her work, and she finished wrapping his injury in mere moments.

Damien chose to focus on Arum rather than the burning sensation on his leg. Arum laid close to him, his frill almost touching the top of Damien’s head, ruffling his hair as it moved. His scales were cool against Damien’s flushed cheeks, and he sighed at the relief they brought. 

Arum hissed quietly at the touch. “He is quite warm, Amaryllis.”

Rilla didn’t respond right away, rather heading out to retrieve what Damien assumed were more herbs. He didn’t recognize any of them, but his brain felt funny and too muddled to truly understand what was going on. 

“Damien, you have to drink this. It’ll bring your fever down and help you rest.” 

The drink was warm and sweet and tasted like tea and honey. He felt Rilla’s fingers run through his hair gently; he leaned into the touch, cradled between his two lovers. 

“You had better rest, Honeysuckle. I’d hate to have to duel you again.” 

Damien knew that this was Arum’s way of saying he cared. 

Between the drink’s warmth in his stomach and his lovers’ soothing touch surrounding him, he knew he never wanted to go anywhere else. He was home, and that was all that mattered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! 
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated! 
> 
> If you would like one, I'm sending virtual hugs to those who need/want them!!
> 
> <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! How are you today?
> 
> This was probably my favorite section of the entire work, I have to admit. 
> 
> Additional content warnings: unintentional drugging? but like it's unintentional and from a sleepy plant. 
> 
> Enjoy!

It was a particularly pleasant day in the Swamp of Titan’s Blooms, and Rilla had allowed Damien to tag alongside her as she searched for new plants to make her medicines. Damien had recalled how excited she’d seemed when she’d mentioned a plant that was supposedly going to help her sedate her patients when necessary. 

She hadn’t mentioned any patients explicitly, but Damien didn’t miss the look she’d given him. 

Arum had been three arms deep in an experiment when they’d left, and Rilla had been too impatient to wait for him. 

She was racing ahead of Damien, and he couldn’t help but take note of the little details, the glint of her smile and quirk of her brow and the way her fingers danced along the different plants that surrounded them. 

He felt he could have written a hundred poems about her beauty in that moment.

Whether they were sonnets about her amber eyes that glittered like a child’s on Saints’ Rise, or ballads about the way their hands fit together just right, Damien knew none of them could do her justice. 

“You’re staring, Damien,” she said, jolting him out of his daydream. He gave her a guilty smile and rushed to keep up with her. 

“You are quite beautiful, my love. I could not help but admire—” 

Rilla broke off his statement with a soft kiss that left Damien’s heart dancing in his chest, and the two of them continued through the swamp, hand in hand. 

Every once in a while, Rilla would stop and show Damien different plants that he’d overlooked and tell him the different properties of the flora around him. He wasn’t sure if it was the fourth or fifth time they’d stopped when Rilla let out an awed gasp. 

“That’s it!” she whispered, glancing back at him with a mischievous smile. “Race you!”

Damien let out a small squawk before following her, doing his best to catch up to her full sprint. He had to admit, she was faster than him, and much better at not tripping over the roots and stones in her path. 

Eventually, he stumbled into a bright clearing where she stood, grinning and waiting for him with a teasing glint in her eye. 

With a breathless laugh, Damien joined her.

“Perhaps you should have been the knight instead, my Rilla. You’d catch the beasts much quicker than I!”

Rilla beamed at him, touching the back of his wrist gently.

“I wouldn’t want to be a knight even if I could be. And besides, look.”

She pointed at a moss-like growth that covered the trees in the area. The almost blue plant seemed to shimmer in the light and let off a sickly sweet smell Damien couldn’t quite place. 

“It is a quite beautiful moss,” he said. Rilla turned briefly to give him an almost disappointed look that left Damien feeling confused and a bit guilty. 

“It’s lichen, Damien. In Arum’s organism encyclopedia it was called the Lover’s Dream, because it puts most organisms to sleep to protect itself. I was hoping I’d be able to incorporate it into a sedative.” 

Rilla moved towards the middle of the clearing, pulling her gloves out of her belt and putting them on carefully. “However,” she mumbled to herself, “the book said that it grew in small quantities. It didn’t mention huge patches like this. If these all released their toxins at once, they could put a full—Damien! Stop right there!”

Damien froze, pulling his hand back from the tree he’d nearly touched. “What? What is it?!”

Rilla took a tiny step towards him, out of the middle of the lichen covered clearing. “When you stepped into the field, did it smell sweet to you?”

He was rather confused, but Damien nodded. Rilla groaned.

“These lichen have been releasing their toxins from the moment we got here. They’ll put us to sleep, and with this much growth it won’t take long. We need to get out of here. Now.”

Damien, who was just a few feet away from the tree line, felt himself nod, and escaped the scent quickly. After a few minutes, his mind cleared and the grogginess in his limbs faded. 

But Rilla was not beside him. He could see her, lying amongst the lichen, looking almost asleep. That was what it did, she had said. 

He almost had reached the edge of the clearing before he stopped to think. 

“Saint Damien, what shall I do? If I return to the field, we might both be overtaken by the toxic fumes of the lichen! But I cannot just leave my Rilla there to die! If I am overtaken, we both are dead! I could try to get help? But what if I do not return in time? Saint Damien, your tranquility—oh!”

And Damien knew precisely what he had to do. He quickly ripped a piece of cloth off his shirt and fashioned a face covering from it, wrapping it tightly around his nose and mouth. 

As soon as he was certain it was secure, he rushed into the clearing, doing his best to avoid the largest of the growths that stuck out off of the nearby trees and rocks.

Rilla seemed to have made it a good few paces before collapsing, closer to the edge of the trees than the middle of the field. Luckily, she didn’t seem hurt. If Damien was being honest, she just looked like she’d fallen asleep.

He didn’t have time to dawdle, however, and scooped her up into his arms before rushing out of the clearing. It took him a moment to regain his clarity before he could continue, but as soon as he did, the two of them were hurrying back to the Swamp of Titan’s Blooms as fast as they could. 

“Keep! Please, a portal to you!” Damien said breathlessly. 

Back at home, Arum was still hard at work on his experiments, at least before the Keep’s song broke his focus and he was forced to the front entrance. 

He hadn’t been there for very long when Damien toppled out of the portal, Rilla still asleep in his arms. 

“Arum!” Damien called, relief rippling across his features. 

“Damien! What’s happened?” The two of them rushed into Arum’s workshop, his experiment still bubbling on the hot plate. Arum rushed to turn it off right away, and Damien laid Rilla down on a cushion the Keep had placed in the corner of the room. 

“We were going to gather that lichen for her medicines, but there was so much of it, and she collapsed in the field.”

Arum paced the length of his workbench, tail swishing and thinking intensely. 

“She said it was called the Lover’s Dream, or at least that was what the monsters had called it in your book.”

The tension in Arum’s shoulders melted away at the mention of the name, and he ceased his pacing instantly. Damien didn’t know if that meant he knew the cure or the plant itself, but it was relieving either way. 

“The Lover’s Dream simply makes you sleep. As long as she wasn’t in the field for days on end, she’ll be fine. You humans are foolishly fragile.”

Without Arum’s obvious fear making him stress out further, Damien allowed himself to sit next to Rilla, her head on his lap as he ran his fingers through her hair gently. 

She seemed so peaceful, in a way that made Damien’s heart flutter. When he looked back up, he noticed Arum watching the two of them intently. 

“You were afraid for her,” Arum said. Damien nodded, glancing back down at Rilla’s sleeping form. 

“Yes.”

And for once, the poet was speechless. 

“Amaryllis is going to be fine, Honeysuckle,” Arum whispered, sinking down onto the cushion next to him. Damien sighed and leaned his head onto Arum’s shoulder. With one claw, Arum tilted Damien’s face up to place a gentle kiss on his lips with a soft purr. 

Their faces remained very close for a few seconds, before Damien returned the kiss with one of his own. 

“Hey,” a voice muttered from below them. Damien pulled back quickly with a startled laugh. 

“Rilla!” he gasped, pulling her in tightly. She laughed loudly, and Arum nestled his snout into her neck. 

“What, no kiss for me?” she joked. Arum lifted her onto his lap, until she was securely tucked in between the two of them. 

“You should be more careful, Amaryllis,” he whispered. Rilla just shook her head and kissed the corner of his mouth. 

“Arum, were you worried about me?” Arum pulled his head back quickly, shocked and sputtering. 

“I—no—of course not!” 

But Rilla just laughed some more, and Damien let himself laugh with her. 

“Now, come on! We still have to gather the lichen!” she said, pulling them up with her. Damien and Arum spared a quick glance at each other before responding at the same time. 

“No!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Have a great day, and take care of yourself as best as you can! I believe in you<3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody!
> 
> This is the last chapter we've all been waiting for!! I can't believe it!
> 
> Enjoy!

Damien was tired. 

Well, tired in the sense that he was tired of being around his fellow knights. He’d forgotten how the younger knights often tried foolish things, got themselves hurt, and left him and the rest of the more experienced knights to go pick up the pieces and save their lives. Sir Absolon had sent him on yet another quest to clean up after a new knight, but had failed to mention that it would take him almost a month. 

He’d written, but it was hard to know if his lovers had received his letters. To protect their secret, he’d been forced to send them to Rilla’s hut. She still worked out of there some days, but rarely spent the night, choosing instead to stay with Arum in their own hut in the swamp. 

Damien just hoped that they wouldn’t be too upset when they saw how filthy he was—two weeks on horseback to return to the Citadel certainly meant he was in need of a very long bath. Mud coated his armor, and he wasn’t entirely certain that he didn’t smell like the onions he had found and eaten along the way home. 

Sir Caroline would’ve been furious at him, seeing his armor all mucked up. She certainly wouldn’t have let him into her office. 

It didn’t particularly matter because the younger knights always appreciated when he saved their lives. They always seemed a bit more willing to submit his reports for him afterwards as well. It meant he could go home sooner, rather than having to creep through the forest surrounding the Citadel in the dark.

Writing his reports would have taken him at least until dusk, if not until late into the night, had he not prepared upon their ride home. It was a particularly useful skill of his, being able to write while on horseback. 

Damien hadn’t realized how much time had truly passed until he reached the edge of the forest. The summer months were coming to a close, and the leaves were just beginning to turn. 

A great many poets had remarked upon the changing of the leaves, Damien remembered. He had always thought that poetry about spring was always more exciting, more vibrant, for what could be more beautiful than a flower blooming?

The thought made him laugh as he thought of  _ his  _ flowers. He’d missed them immensely. 

Rilla’s hut was close by, and Damien knew he could leave his horse there without sparking any questions in the Citadel. It wouldn’t have been the first time. 

The hut itself was small, but had always felt like home to Damien. It sat very neatly in between two large trees with a sprawling garden behind it that had accidentally grown around to the front of the hut. The door laid ajar, but there was a fire lit and the smell of fresh food wafted in the air. Damien’s stomach growled at the thought of home-made food. 

Rilla stood in her front garden, watering her various herbs. Damien felt his heart leap at the sight of her, and he could barely stay on his horse in his excitement. 

By the time Damien had tied his horse up, Rilla had moved over to the far side of the garden, her back to him. It didn’t take him long to cover the distance between them, doing his best to stay silent. 

“Rilla!” he shouted, giving her a mere moment’s notice before sweeping her up into her arms. Rilla shrieked in surprise, then grinned so brightly Damien thought his heart had melted. 

“Damien!” she sighed, holding him closely. “I missed you!” 

Arum, who had been hiding inside, making his favorite stew for the two, now three, of them, had heard Rilla’s cry and rushed to the door, only to be met by a beautiful sight. He wasted no time joining the embrace. 

“Honeysuckle,” he whispered. Damien reached one hand up to stroke Arum’s cheek, accidentally covering it with a fair bit of dirt. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry, my loves. I am filthy from my travels,” Damien said, moving to pull away. Arum didn’t give him the chance, pulling him even closer. The two of them felt Rilla laugh between them, loud and contagious, and soon all three of them were laughing. 

“You say that like I don’t come in every night practically covered by the garden, Damien,” Rilla teased. “And...I’m pretty sure that I spilled all of that water over us anyways.”

She was right, of course. The front of her skirt and Damien’s armor were covered in water, although it seemed to have cleared a spot from the mud that had caked on. 

“Come along, you,” Arum said, pulling them back towards the hut. When the two of them didn’t seem to hear, he figured it would just be best to bring them in himself.

“Woah!” Rilla yelped, flailing as Arum picked her up. “What is it with you two and wanting to carry me?”

Aurm didn’t pause to answer, instead swinging Damien up next to her in his other pair of arms. With a loud shriek, Damien twisted around, leaving Arum scrambling to keep hold of both of them.

“Hold still, Honeysuckle!” he hissed, eyes flashing. “Foolish human, I could have—oof!”

And then all three of them were toppled over on the ground, covered in dirt and the water from Rilla’s watering can. It took everything in her not to laugh.

Arum’s cloak had flown up over his face, and he struggled to get his snout unstuck. Next to him, Damien had managed to get even more dirt in his hair, which stuck out at odd angles, all clumpy and gross. Rilla was sure she looked a sight as well, and blew a piece of hair out of her face. 

After a moment to gather themselves, and after Arum had finally managed to untangle himself, the three of them made it back inside the hut in one piece. The stew was, somehow, still salvageable, and even though Arum may have grumbled about “foolish humans interfering with my cooking,” it was utterly delicious. 

“So,” Rilla said, after the three of them had finally managed to clean up. “Are you going to tell us about your quest?”

Arum sighed, and leaned back unto the cushion they’d laid upon, but Damien seemed thrilled to tell his story. 

“Of course! So you see, Sir Absolon had sent off two of our younger knights to slay a creature ravaging a small town near the edge of the Citadel—”

“The Wilds,” Arum interrupted, although his usual exasperation didn’t seem to fully be in it. Damien just nodded and continued his story. 

“—the Wilds, yes, but they kept getting caught in the monster’s traps. How they managed to escape and get caught again and again is a mystery to us all…”

As Damien spun his story and Arum played with the ends of her hair, Rilla realized how truly at home she felt. They were all together again, home at last. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated. 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @amillionworlds
> 
> Have a great day, I believe in you<3

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed!!!
> 
> Please leave kudos or a comment, it means a lot!!!
> 
> Have a fantastic day, and just know I believe in you!


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